1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a vegetation cutter provided with a guard. More specifically, the cutter has in one example a line element as its cutting device. The cutter has an arcuate guard which can serve to protect objects close to the area of trimming and can serve as a support and guide when the cutter is used in its edging mode.
It is envisioned that the invention applies to vegetation cutters of all types having a rotary cutting element including, but not limited to, line, flail-blade and disc-type cutters.
2. Description of Related Art including Information Disclosed under .sctn..sctn.1.97 to 1.99
The prior art is replete with examples of vegetation cutters having rotating cutting devices defining a planar cutting circle. A popular form of such cutters is a line trimmer so named because it comprises a power-rotated head having a short length of line swinging outward therefrom, the mass and speed of the line being able after repeated bludgeoning to sever the tops off grass and weeds.
Careful operators of line trimmers as they have been marketed in the past have been aware that plants and trees around which trimming must be done can be severely injured by the line if the whirling head is permitted to come too close. Young fruit trees, for instance, can be stripped of their bark by careless trimming with a line trimmer and can thereby be severely stunted or even killed.
Attempts have been made in the past to provide a guard assuring the spacing of the trimmer from the nearby trees and the like. An example is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,756,084 which issued July 12, 1988 to Morita. The Morita device has a wide curving plate on the end of an arm so that the guard contacts objects to be protected and prevents the line from striking them. The guard portion of Morita's device can be used to keep a tree trunk a fixed distance away from the rotating head.
A further U.S. Pat. No. 4,890,389 to G.H. Whitkop issued Jan. 2, 1990 provides a ring-like guard about the line trimmer, the ring having an opening in the front of the line cutter to permit passage of the grass to be cut and, at the same time, guarding trees and the like which are disposed to the side of the front of the trimmer.